The Influence of a Parabolic Moulding upon the Buddhist Architecture of Western India

THE island of Salsette, or of the Sixty Villages, owes the peculiar loveliness of its scenery to volcanic eruptions, which at some time subsequent to the commencement of the tertiary period, have at this place burst through the trap of Western India. In the centre of this island the trap rocks are high, and form a crater-like basin, which is open on its western side towards the ocean, and which is occupied by hills and undulations of volcanic tufa. Two of these hills are perforated by Buddhist excavations, which are known by the name of the Kenneri caves. Some idea of their extent and character may be formed from the description given by Anquetil du Perron in the third part of his preliminary discourse to the ZendAvesta, and the ground-plan which accompanies it; some further account is to be found in Fergusson's "Rock-cut Temples of India."